Happy New Year!

Hey Y'all,

Just here to wish everyone a Happy New Year! I hope 2009 brings everyone great joy! I Promise to have a post up within the week.

-Holly

Ask A Question!

It has been a slow week so far. No news, no events, just nothing. Actually, I take that back. If you are planning on or are wanting to move to Japan and need a job, the Hawks are looking for an announcer (MC). You must be 18 years old and able to commute using public transportation. Also, you must be very photogenic as you will be on T.V., in ads and magazines. This factor will be checked via the full-body photo and numerous head shots you have to send in, along with your resume and completed application. Oh! I almost forgot, you must have the ability to speak and understand Japanese fluently...shall I move on?

I have a feeling not too many of y'all were even interested in that job in the first place. Oh Well...

Since I had nothing to write about, I decided that I had two options: to write about my first semester finals (I owned my Statistics test today!!) or to answer any questions anyone might have. After considering writing about my finals, I realized that I would probably

1) Bore people to death
2) Bring back terrible memories for those who have previously experienced the all night studying and wrinkle producing stress caused by finals.

I simply decided that it was in my and your best interest to open up the floor to questions.

Ask whatever you want. Just make sure it's civil, useful and not impossible to answer. To make it fun, it doesn't even have to be baseball related. If it is baseball related, it doesn't even have to be Japanese baseball related.

Here is an example:

Q: What is it like falling backwards in a chair?
A: What a fabulous question! It is rather embarrassing and painful, however, it also serves as a great conversation starter :)

One last thing, don't be question shy! You can be anonymous, if you want or just email it to keepinupwithkam@gmail.com if you don't want to leave it as a comment for everyone to see. I was shy once (not that I'm not still a little shy) and it didn't get me anywhere. Now look at me, I have a blog for the whole World to see!

-Holly

"Hit the ball over the fence and you can take your time going around the bases."
-John Raper

Spring Training

I finally got some news from the Softbank Hawks website on spring training.

Spring Training will begin on February 1st and with those attending divided into two groups: Group A and Group B. The Rosters of each group will not be announced until late January. Training will be held in the City of Miyazaki of the Miyazaki Prefecture. While both groups will begin training on the same day, Group A will end on February 26th while Group B will end about a week later on March 2nd.

Here is the complete Schedule of Spring Training games:

Saturday, February 28: Hiroshima Toyo Carp (Miyakonojo) * Visitor
Sunday, March 1: Miyazaki Ivy - Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Wednesday, March 4: Yahoo Dome - Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
Thursday, March 5: Yahoo Dome - Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
Friday, March 6: Yahoo Dome Act
Saturday, March 7: Yomiuri Giants (Yahoo Dome) * Visitor
Sunday, March 8: Yahoo Dome - Yomiuri Giants
Tuesday, March 10: Yakult Swallows (Shrine) * Visitor
Wednesday, March 11: Yakult Swallows (Shrine) * Visitor
Thursday, March 12: Yokohama Bay Stars (Yokohama) * Visitor
Friday, March 13: Chiba Lotte Marines (Chiba Marine) * Visitor
Saturday, March 14 :Yokohama Bay Stars (Yokohama) * Visitor
Sunday, March 15: Chiba Lotte Marines (Chiba Marine) * Visitor
Tuesday, March 17: Yahoo Dome - Chiba Lotte Marines
Wednesday, March 18: Yahoo Dome - Chiba Lotte Marines
March 20 (Holiday): Yahoo Dome - Chunichi Dragons
Saturday, March 21: Yahoo Dome - Chunichi Dragons
Sunday, March 22: Yahoo Dome - Chunichi Dragons
Tuesday, March 24: Yahoo Dome - Hanshin Tigers
Wednesday, March 25: Yahoo Dome - Hanshin Tigers
Thursday, March 26: Yahoo Dome - Hanshin Tigers
Friday, March 27: Yahoo Dome - Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Saturday, March 28: Yahoo Dome - Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Sunday, March 29: Yahoo Dome - Hiroshima Toyo Carp

While I'm sure the NPB is like the MLB and doesn't broadcast spring training games, I am already starting the search for Internet feeds of regular season games. I have already learned of two sites that stream lots of the games online:

The First one is MyP2P. This site has broadcasts that allow most platforms, but sometimes the streams will only work on Windows though. However, the site JustIn.tv works off flash which welcomes all platforms. It even streams with very little to no delay. These sites were suggested during last season so I hope that they still work this season.

-Holly

"Baseball isn't a business, it's more like a disease."
-Walter F. O'Malley

Some actual news

Yesterday I went to Dallas to try and catch up with Kameron while he was dropping off Angel and Craig's (from the Snake Pit) office. I was about 30 or so minutes away when Craig called me to tell me Kameron had already left the office. Yet again, my luck didn't exactly work out. Oh well. As I told Craig, I have become pretty immune to my bad luck getting the best of me. I am happy to report though, that I got to meet Angel! At first I was a little afraid. After a while though, I got used to her and was a little more comfortable around her. I must admit, she was pretty cool.

I got to visit a while with Craig about some news on Kameron. I was very happy to learn what Kameron's new jersey number will be. He had a choice of several different numbers - one being 43 - but he decided to go with...Double Zero!! Thats right, 00. One of the biggest guys in the NPB will be wearing the smallest number. That is quite an unique choice.

As for now, I think Kameron is just getting ready to move out to Japan and getting ready for spring training to work on that "wa". I was reading a review of the book "You Gotta Have Wa" and it said that "Wa" can be translated as “experience of calmness or reflection”, or “a spirit of tranquility and peace". When it comes down to it, finding your own personal "wa" is like finding yourself in Japanese culture. It is an assimilation into Japanese culture for foreign players. The team takes the whole "wa" thing so serious that no wives or girlfriends are allowed during spring training. Now that is intense. If you want to read the book reivew you can click here. "You Gotta Have Wa" sounds like a pretty interesting book that can be useful in understanding Japanese baseball. I might even pick it up over my Christmas break. It can be found on Amazon for $0.01 and $3.99 shipping and handling.

All I have to say now is that Kameron should be proud of himself; he has me reading books for fun. Haha!

-Holly

P.S. I had a great time meeting everyone from the Snake Pit! I really have to thank them a lot for all the help I've recieved on this blog and for letting me meet the beautiful Angel!

"Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field?"

-Jim Bouton

I hate Chairs...

If I ever get hurt I like to be able to tell people that I got hurt in some dramatic way; like diving for a line drive to win the game or saving a kitten's life. Well, two days ago I managed to injure myself a little, however, it wasn't in the most noble way. I was sitting on my chair at my desk. The Chairs we have look like regular chairs but they are actually rocking chairs. So, I was sitting in my chair and I turned in my chair to face my roommate to talk to her. I propped my elbow up on the back of the chair and started talking with her. I started to rock back and forth and I guess I rocked a little too far back because before I knew it, the chair and I were heading towards the ground. I landed right on my elbow. Ouch! I immediately started laughing because my roommate did the same thing a few weeks ago. We joked all night about how hurt ourselves in the most ridiculous ways. Incase you are wondering, I didn’t hurt myself too bad, I’ve got bad carpet burn and a little soreness.

As for news from across the Pacific, there really isn’t anything. I guess this time of year, in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, is pretty quiet for the NPB. But don’t worry, if anything pops up I will certainly post it ASAP because it’s almost winter break which means I will have no tests, no homework, no reading and certainly no studying for the next few weeks! I cannot believe my first semester is practically over. It feels like it was just yesterday when I first moved in. Isn’t just amazing how fast time goes by?

In other news, I have decided to stay in DFW an extra night so I can go to the Toys for Tots event at the Ballpark tomorrow. Not only will it be lots of fun but, all of the Toys collected will mean a happier Christmas for lots of Children around DFW. If you are in the area and have nothing to do, you should definitely check it out!

-Holly

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."
-Rogers Hornsby

Artificial Turf

In random Softbank Hawk news, the Yahoo! Dome is getting a new artificial turf. It sounds like the old turf was getting pretty old and was taking a toll on the players' feet. So, instead of doing extensive ground work and risking 'foot' injury the Softbank Hawk officials went ahead and decided to to put new turf in. According to the release, the turf will play the ball just like real grass and will even help with shock absorption when the foot hits it resulting in the player's footing being more secure. Hopefully that will equal less sprained ankles. The turf will be packed with little pieces of rubber for more cushion. I guess they figured their fans would be so into the new turf they even posted the little diagram above on the site. Or, they figured some random person could use it in their blog as colorful image to enhance a post about Artificial turf. Either one works!


This stuff sounds exactly like the stuff at my High School. They put it in the summer before my Sophomore year and sold the whole thing idea it would reduce injuries. Now, you will have to ask a football coach or player if it really did help with injuries but, from a marching band member's point of view, that stuff was horrible. Luckily, the Yahoo! Dome is indoors because being on that turf in direct sunlight raised the temperature at least ten degrees. I remember Friday afternoon practices before the football game were the worst; especially in August. I would rather have practiced on our usual black pavement than that stuff any day of the week. As for the little rubber pieces...haha! I hope all of the Softbank players are willing to track the rubber beads everywhere they go. After practices on the field I can remember how we would dump our shoes out on the white tile floor in the dressing room to see just how much we had collected. Today, I can lift the soles of my performance shoes and still dump out some of those little rubber pieces and I haven't been on that field, in those shoes in over a year!

That's enough ranting about artificial turf. The idea of this post sounded a lot more fun before I started; now it just sounds like I am bored. The sad part is there may be some truth to that...

-Holly

P.S. My Hawks didn't fair to well against Kerrville Tivy on Saturday. They lost, ending their longest playoff birth at the Regional Championship game. Not too bad for a fifth year team!! Instead of signing off with my usual baseball quote, I am going to quote the last line from my High School's School Song in honor of the football team's great success in playoffs! Go Hawks!!

"Hendrickson, we proclaim devotion to you!"
-Cynthia Bradley
-Writer of the School Song and the best teacher I ever had in High School

Fun with the Currency Converter and other random things....

Well I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I don't have any new news on Kam Loe but, the good news is that I have some sort of baseball news (there are too many news' in that sentence haha). I'm sure many of you know of Jason Botts who, last year, left the Rangers' Organization mid-season and signed a contract with the Nippon Ham Fighters of the NPB. Yesterday, the Fighters re-signed Botts to a one year deal worth 47 Million Yen. That is roughly just over $506,000 or

• 615,488 Swiss Francs
• 14,184,631 Russian Rubles
• 751,511,869 Korean Wons
• 116,387,637 Iceland Kronas

Off topic but, one thing I can't stand is Football (eh...not just football) players with hair hanging out the back of their helmet. One, it makes them look like girls and two, it gets very distracting when the hair is flailing all over the place when the player is running. With that said, I laughed quite hard when I saw this article and video.

Next week I only have three days of school, then dead days! I'm not sure but, I may go to the Toys for Tots toy drive at the Ballpark Thursday. I would like to go however, I would also really like to go home too. It's such a hard decision!

Before I go, I want to wish my Alma Mater's football team the very best of luck in their Regional Final Tomorrow! What makes this playoff experience so amazing for my old school, Hendrickson High School, is that this school year is only its sixth year open. My graduating class was only the third class and just the second to go the full four years at the School. The varsity football program is even younger than the school; the first year they only had a JV and freshman team, making it only five-years-old. As a six-year-old school, the Hendrickson football team is holding their own against older and more experienced programs. Go Hawks! We Believe!!

-Holly

"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. "
-Greg, Age 8

Fun Facts!

I am proud to say that I have no homework tonight!!! Yesss! Although, I stayed up until three or four this morning doing an essay and spent two hours in the library today finishing it up. Needless to say, it has been a long day. However, to celebrate my homeworkless night I decided to post some fun facts about the Softbank Hawks!

Note: I'm not too sure how 'fun' these facts will be...I guess I should call them inFormative Facts but, alliterations are just too much fun to not use!!

1. Their colors are Black and Gold.

2. Their Mascot's name is Harry and he is a Hawk.

3. The team's name in Japanese is 福岡ソフトバンクホークス. For those of us that can't pronounce that, it is pronounced Fukuoka Sofutobanku Hōkusu.

4. The Softbank company is a leading cellphone service provider in Japan.

5. Kenji Johjima, a catcher for the Seattle Mariners was originally drafted by the Softbank Hawks in 1999.

6. Remember that weird balloon thing I talked about in an earlier post? Well here is a video of it on Youtube. It's pretty crazy. Just be sure to have your volume down if you're at work, school or in public; people may think you are listening to some sort of cult-esque chant.

7. Speaking of Youtube, there are a ton (not a ton...but for such a random topic there is a lot) of videos on there of some of the players singing Karaoke. To link a couple of them, there this one and this one, my personal favorite, which is a little bit of variety. Plus it ends with my favorite song ever. I think they are having a little too much fun...haha!

8. The Hawks just got a new Manager: Koji Akiyama.

9. The Hawks play in the Fukuoka Yahoo! Dome. It is associated with Yahoo! because Yahoo! Japan is one of the subsidiaries of the Softbank corporation.

10. Japan is 13 hours ahead of America.

I will have to admit, the last factoid is a little lame. I couldn't think of anything else to put, my lack of sleep is making me brain dead!! Now, I am off to bed. I need to start going to sleep at decent hours of the night and not the next morning. Honestly, since college started I don't think my roommate and I have gone to bed before midnight, bleh. Plus, finals will start in two weeks. Luckily, we have 'dead days' the Thursday and Friday before finals start. I wish they wouldn't call them dead days; it sounds so gruesome. Well, I hope you have enjoyed the fantastically ferocious fun facts (I love alliterations!!).

-Holly

P.S. I want to give a shout out to Craig and Erin from the Snake Pit for the great comments and the little shout they gave my blog on their blog Kam's Snake Pit. Also check out the Ladies' of the Snake Pit blog A Snakes Eye View. These links have already been added under the blogs menu on the right! Also, I want to give a shout out to Micah, who writes the awesome blog Baseball is My Boyfriend, who helped spread the word about Keepin' up with Kam and is another awesome Kam Loe fan! Wooo! Now, off to sing "I'm a Barbie Girl" obnoxiously loud with my roomie instead of sleeping :)

"A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz."

-Humphrey Bogart